More Support for the Ill-treated Indian Shipyard Workers in US

The duped and harassed Indian shipyard workers in the US are beginning to receive support from that country's politicians too.

George Miller, a respected US Congressman who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, has sought information from the Bush administration on allegations that several hundred Indians working in shipyards in Mississippi and Texas have been subjected to torture and human trafficking.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Congressman Miller requested copies of reports from departmental investigations of Signal International, the workers' employer.

The letter comes after the Hindustan Times newspaper reported on the inhuman conditions that compelled 120 Indian workers to walk out from Signal's shipyard last week.

After the HT report, the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs suspended the licences of Dewan Consultants and S Mansour & Company, Mumbai-based companies hiring Indian workers for Signal, allegedly charging them up to $20,000 for temporary H2B visas.

Late on Wednesday night, news agency IANS reported that Signal general manager Darrell Snyder had met NB Jhambulkar, the protector of emigrants at Mumbai and asserted that the protesting Indians were never promised permanent US residency. Snyder later arrived in New Delhi to meet senior officials in the Overseas Affairs ministry.

Congressman Miller, 63, was elected chairman of the Education and Labor Committee in January 2007. He is the leading advocate in Congress on education, labour, the economy and the environment. Miller's bill to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour was one of the first bills passed by the new Democratically-led Congress and signed into law.

In his letter, Miller has urged the Labour Secretary to provide him all the H2-B guest worker applications and certifications for the past five years—including supporting documents and correspondences submitted to either the Labour Department or any other US agency for the companies in question. The companies are Signal International, Dewan Consultants, Five Star Contractors, Knight Marine and Industrial Services, Eagle Staffing, Massey Contracting, S Mansour & Company and North America Labor Service.

'Congressman Miller's letter is an acknowledgement that the reality of the guest worker programme is often disastrous for workers,'' said Saket Soni, Director of the New Orleans Workers' Centre for Racial Justice, which is helping the workers.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Indian guest workers from the Alliance of Guestworkers for Dignity has demanded a meeting with Indian Ambassador to the United States Ronen Sen.

The delegation on Wednesday handed over the letter to diplomats K.P. Pillai and Alok Pandey, dispatched to New Orleans by Ambassador Sen.

'We need an immediate decision by the ambassador that he will meet with us. The lives of hundreds of workers are at stake. They've packed their bags, but they don't know where they'll go,' said Rajan Pazhambalakode, a former worker at US marine construction company Signal International.

In their letter to Ambassador Sen, the workers wrote: 'We have spoken with the Cabinet Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, the Honourable Vyalar Ravi, and he has directed us to you. ... We request that you meet with us immediately so that we may brief you on our situation and discuss how the Indian Government will ensure both the US and the Indian governments conduct appropriate investigation of the criminal activity and ensure the safety of our families and ourselves.'

When the Signal workers first began to organize last year, the company retaliated with armed guards, driving worker Sabulal Vijayan to slit his wrist in a suicide attempt.

'On March 9, 2007, I was in the hospital after I slit my wrist,' Vijayan told the consular officers and asked them angrily, 'Where were you?'

He had contacted a diplomat at the Indian consulate in Houston, after Signal attempted to deport him and other organizers in March 2007. The official responded by meeting with the company, but not the workers, it is charged.

In the Wednesday meeting the delegation expressed deep disappointment with the official's failure to answer their pleas for help.

Your comments are automatically posted once they are submitted. All comments are however constantly reviewed for spam and irrelevant material (such as product or personal advertisements, email addresses, telephone numbers and website address). Such insertions do not conform to our policy and 'Terms of Use' and are either deleted or edited and republished.Please keep your comments brief and relevant.This section may also have questions seeking help. If you have the information you are welcome to respond, but please ensure that the information so provided is genuine and not misleading.

Disclaimer - All information and content on this site are for information and educational purposes only. The information should not be used for either diagnosis or treatment or both for any health related problem or disease. Always seek the advice of a qualified physician for medical diagnosis and treatment.Full Disclaimer